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Tobio Kageyama
is a first year at Karasuno High School; he is the regular setter of the Karasuno High Boys' Volleyball Club and plays a critical role as the second protagonist of the Haikyū!! series. Initially, he was referred to as the "King of the Court," a derogatory nickname that insinuates his autocratic nature, given to him by his former teammates at Kitagawa Daiichi during his late junior high school days. Kageyama is also widely regarded as a stunning prodigy and an absolute genius by many of the prefecture's players and coaches. After joining Karasuno, he manages to change his attitude for the better with the help of his new teammates and 'rediscover' what it means to be a part of a team. Appearance Kageyama's height and impressively sharp glare are said to be his most prominent physical characteristics. He often emits an intimidating aura, which is heightened by the almost permanent scowl on his face. His hair is black and cropped short, with a fringe that hangs just above his dark blue eyes. His typical attire consists of either his school uniform or practice clothes. Personality Perpetually sullen and undeniably short-tempered, Kageyama originally came off as a typical overbearing perfectionist, caring only about winning and completely disregarding the opinions and well-being of his teammates. His habit of complaining about their performance and barking orders at them eventually led the other players in Kitagawa Daiichi to nickname him the "King of the Court"–a constant reminder of the oppressive, egocentric attitude he demonstrated during his volleyball career in junior high. Unbeknownst to the majority of his schoolmates and acquaintances, however, he is actually much more sensitive and childish than he appears to be; he simply does not know how to control his frustration, and hence expresses his thoughts and emotions in an inappropriate way. After everyone in Kitagawa Daiichi became fed up with him and abandoned his side, Kageyama was filled with genuine regret and developed an intense fear of being despised and mistrusted, but refused to openly discuss his problem until Tsukishima confronted him about it. Despite his inability to properly socialize, he sincerely wishes to do his best and is extremely passionate and dedicated when it comes to volleyball, to the point where he gets overly excited about nearly every successful move he pulls off with Hinata. Since joining Karasuno, he has grown to be more respectful of his upperclassmen (Sugawara and Asahi in particular), as well as more accepting of people whose abilities and/or views differ from his own (like Tsukishima), and has come to once again understand the importance of teamwork and mutual trust in the sport he treasures so much. Additionally, this has also helped him regain his confidence as a setter. He has also realized that he doesn't call the shots, and gives up control to Hinata and other spikers. Statistics As a setter, Kageyama has the potential to unify the team with his overwhelming talent, but hasn't learned how to exploit that to everyone's full advantage yet. He has a remarkable grasp of both the basics and the complexities of volleyball and, in addition to his astounding accuracy and technical skills as a setter, is a skilled spiker, blocker, and receiver. His best set is the "King's Toss," which causes the ball to go straight with a lot of force past through the spiker's point of impact. Originally, his teammates found this sort of set to be impossibly fast to spike. Following Karasuno's summer training camp, Kageyama learned to perform a set that falls around the spiker's point of impact. The brutal force he'd habitually put into it would thus die out and allow the spiker to manipulate the ball in whatever way he wished. Kageyama also has an affinity for improvised strategy, and was the first person to suggest using Hinata's prominent presence on the court for the sake of turning the smaller boy into an effective decoy. Pinpoint Accuracy Kageyama's most prominent and praised skill is his ability to accurately determine a ball's trajectory before he sets it. Combined with the fact that he can set any ball from any angle at incredible speeds, this makes his sets almost impossible for most of his opponents to predict and/or counter. As most blockers determine the spiker from the toss, it is a common misconception that it is Hinata's speed alone that makes the quick work. However, opponents are often left befuddled and confused when the ball seemingly disappears from sight, as Kageyama barely allows the ball to be cushioned against his fingers before he tosses it. Kageyama uses his accuracy and fast handling of the ball for other purposes too, such as straight shots and setter dumps. By observing Hinata's and calculating the height of his jump, Kageyama can figure out exactly where and when his partner will swing his hand in order to spike, and sends the ball straight to him at the perfect moment in time; this enables the duo to perform their infamous "Freak-Quick" sets. Quick Sets The "God-Fast Spike", also known as the "Freak-Quick" or the "Oddball Combo", is an offensive maneuver developed by Kageyama and Hinata during their three-on-three match against Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Daichi. It combines Kageyama's setting talents together with Hinata's speed, agility, and extraordinary jumping power. Kageyama uses his pinpoint accuracy in order to set the ball into the best possible position for Hinata to execute a spike. Kageyama's sets are so accurate that Hinata does not even need to look at the ball in order to hit it; he relies on Kageyama's calculations entirely, believing that he will succeed in getting the ball to him regardless of the circumstances. Indeed, the sole reason why this technique has worked out the majority of times Kageyama and Hinata have attempted it is that the latter completely trusts the setter. The Evolution of the Quick Sets After inspiration from the former Coach Ukai, the current Coach Ukai proposed to Kageyama a set that seems to stop on a point and fall into the spiker's hitting zone in order for the spiker to hit the ball with his own will and be able to control the direction, force, and various other factors of the ball. In the summer training camp, Kageyama practiced these sets on his own without Hinata, using plastic bottles situated on the floor as his ultimate targets. At first, his sets weren't landing in the correct spots until Coachi Ukai suggested for him to visualize Hinata spiking. Quickly afterwards, Kageyama was able to achieve a shot pinpointed on his target. Two-setter attack Kageyama also has an accurate straight spike, which allows him to act as an extra wing spiker on the right side when Sugawara is used as a setter. Dump Set Kageyama often utilizes dump sets and almost never gets blocked. He's adept at finding the perfect moments to perform a dump set, often surprising both his opponents (such as Oikawa) and his own teammates. Trivia *Favorite Food: Pork curry with an egg on top. *Current Concern: He gets the feeling that animals dislike him. *His star sign is Capricorn. *Kageyama usually buys a carton of milk during lunch. *He's been playing volleyball since his second year at Akiyama Elementary. *Kageyama is the youngest member of the team. *He claims to have poor memory when it comes to English vocabulary but when he was quizzed by Daichi on tactic signals, he was able to answer them quickly and revealed that it took him barely a day to memorize those. This shows that he does have a great memory, but lacks motivation to put it to use on subjects that aren't related to volleyball. *Before choosing Karasuno, Kageyama tried to get into Shiratorizawa, but he failed the entrance exam. Afterwards, he chose to attend Karasuno only because he wanted to train under the former Coach Ukai. However, Ukai collapsed shortly before Kageyama joined. *In the One Shot, Kageyama's reason for joining Karasuno was that he wanted to fight "Top Schools". Hinata and Kageyama had also formed their "Freak-Quick" during a match against another school instead of during the 3-on-3 match. *His seiyuu, Ishikawa Kaito, is also the seiyuu for Nine, a character in the anime Zankyou no Terror. Number nine is Kageyama's uniform number. *In the first popularity poll conducted by Weekly Shōnen Jump, Kageyama was ranked 1st. However, he was ranked 3rd in the second popularity poll. *In regards to Kageyama's name, Furudate wrote, "I gave him this name with the image of “strong shadow” and “flying” in mind."Haikyū!! Guidebook *'Nomenclature': **Tobio (飛雄) - Flying Hero **Kageyama (影山) - Shadow Mountain References }} Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Karasuno High Volleyball Club Category:Setters Category:1st Year